Chương 28: Ch. 26 - The Hidden Settlement of Lakaris

The path to the second floor was straight forward. A hidden portal, masked as a cloud. You couldn't see it because it was in the direction of the sun. Once we got to the coordinates, even knowing it was there, it took us a few minutes to figure it out. But once we did, we vanished in a blue light. [2nd Floor] [Bosses: 680] The familiar green fields welcomed us. I breathed a sigh of relief. There was a very real possibility we could've ended up with a hidden boss. At that point, we would've been screwed.

There was a new icon on my HUD. It was an arrow that pointed up. When pressed it changed to a down arrow.

"What's that?" I asked Caddie.

"A subroutine override," said Caddie.

"When you find an exit portal, it checks which direction the arrow is pointing. To descend simply maintain the arrow pointing down. But if you wish to go back up, ensure the arrow is pointed up. Theoretically, it is another way to exit. However, there would be no propulsion on your exit and would have to beat the gravity with thrust alone."

"So we could go back to the first floor even?" I asked.

"Precisely," said Caddie.

"Looking through the code, it would appear it only works per section. In other words, every three floors. Once you are able to reach the fourth floor, you would not be able to return to the third and would have to start from the first floor."

"Got it," I said.

"Not something to worry about right now, but for the future." I took a look around, ensuring no hostiles were nearby and began the long trek to the hidden settlement. Luna was trotting next to me. Her movement was more comfortable but still a far cry away from graceful.

"How far?" she asked.

"Remember the lake we were at?"

"I just pulled the map and it says we are…ten hours away," she groaned.

"Oh my God, I'm going to lose my legs! My butt hurts already!"

"We can take a break at five hours. We need to reach that hidden settlement though. Before someone else stumbles into it."

"Why? Don't you need permission?" She had a point. Did we have permission? I shook my head and kept the pace. Couldn't think about that right now.

"So the hidden settlement is by the lake?" she asked.

"No exactly," I said.

"We got something, eight O'Clock." I blasted the low level dirt Golem before it could get close. True to my word, we took a break at five hours. It wasn't a long break, but I also had to stretch my legs. I banged them with a fist to get the circulation going. Luna stretched the entire break.

"Do you think we'll find the pure mana water stuff?" she asked. She was doing yoga while I was just tenderizing my legs.

"At the lake? I hope so. I'm trying to figure out why it was a Goblinoid supplier. I wasn't expecting that," I said.

"So what does the supplier do? Is it as it sounds?"

"I can interject," said Caddie.

"Suppliers are the NPCs allowed to travel between floors."

"How do they do that? We went through a portal and are traveling hundred of miles," I said.

"They do not need to make the hike like you do. Are you familiar with Phil's safe room?" said Caddie.

"Yeah," I said.

"So long as it's an adviser door, I can get to him from anywhere. Luna doesn't have one, so if she went in one, a random one would be assigned to her."

"Hidden Settlements work similarly for Non-Participant Creatures. They can access a dimensional door that takes them to a contracted settlement."

"I noticed you called them non-participants. What are we participating for?" Caddie didn't say anything for a while.

"I am not at liberty to say," he said, finally. I had gotten used to his inability to answer and didn't press on it. We got back into the mechs and continued at our hurried pace towards the lake.

"So once we get to the lake," I said.

"Is it as straight forward as I think it is?"

"I am not a mind reader," said Caddie.

"But chances are, yes. It is." This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"Caddie," said Luna.

"Could you play some music?" Caddie lit up, excited at the request.

"What are you in the mood for, my lady?" said Caddie.

"Don't do that," I said.

"Don't say 'my lady.' It's weird."

"But she is a lady," said Caddie.

"And one who takes my contributions to this team better than my father."

"Nope," I said.

"I am not your dad."

"How about something fun," said Luna.

"Like heavy metal. The angrier the better." The music blared on the comms to heavy drums and guitar riffs. It was starting to give me a headache but it was better than elevator music.

"I didn't know you liked this kind of music," I said, practically screaming over the cacophony.

"What's not to love!" yelled Luna.

"I always wanted to be a drummer. Beat the crap out of stuff but still be in control." She audibly tapped on the throttle, making banging sounds just slightly off tempo. The rest of the trip to the lake was filled with Luna making humming guitar riffs and banging her cockpit over the comms. Only when hostiles were present did the music stop for just long enough to clear the area of them. Not a second later, she would ask Caddie to continue where the music had been left off, humming along to the guitar.

"Caddie!" I yelled.

"Yes!" yelled Caddie.

"Could you turn it down on my side?!"

"NO!" My ears were ringing when we finally arrived. Caddie mercifully turning off the screaming when we came to a stop.

"Aww," said Luna.

"That song was just getting good."

"It was better than elevator music," I said. A swipe on the HUD opened the cockpit to the familiar lake. I beat on my legs again to feel them. Luna joined me, lunging with each step to stretch her muscles as well. We stood beside the lake as I crouched to touch the viscous waters again.

"Wait," she said.

"Is this the pure mana water?"

"I think so," I said.

"But we're here at least."

"Now what?"

"Now, we jump back into the mechs and keep going." I pointed at the lake.

"Down there?"

"Yup." It was a strange feeling. You could see everything around you. The reefs, the alien looking fish. The sky. Luna's mech. Everything in perfect clarity. Yet, somehow still murky. We descended into the waters. Further and further we dropped. Moving was impossible. Thrusters didn't work. I felt like an earth sardine in a can. Stuck with nowhere to go. It was both calming and nerve wracking. Even communication was garbled through the viscous half-liquid.

"How [shh] long [shh]?" said Luna.

"What did she ask?" I asked Caddie.

"She wanted to know how much further down. I believe she is coping. I noticed your heart rate has been elevated for the past thirty minutes."

"Can you blame me? We have been descending deeper for the past hour. I can't turn the Aegis's head. Can't move it's arms. I feel trapped. At least in space someone might find us. Here, there is nowhere to go."

"Understandable. That might be why this settlement had never been found."

"What if there isn't one. What if we just dove to our slow deaths?"

"I postulate it is not likely. So, please, Stefano. Calm your breathing." The outside was dark. The light that was pointed straight ahead illuminated nothing. Just an unfriendly reminder that we were stuck.

"Something [shh]. Closer [shh]," said Luna. Her mech was facing downwards when she jumped in. I had hoped that she would tell me when something was coming from below and I would keep an eye on every other direction.

"What's closer?" I asked.

"[shh] Bubble," she said.

"Bubble?" My questioned was answered shortly thereafter. We passed through a bubble or containment area. Similar to Safe Zones. I could move the head unit and take a peak but the info popped up on my HUD and locked all my controls.

[Hidden Settlement] [City of Lakaris] [NOTE: FRAME WILL LOCK SHORTLY FOR NPC SAFETY] [REPAIR BAYS AVAILABLE] [YOU ARE IN A SAFE ZONE] [NOTE: THIS SETTLEMENT HAS BEEN ADDED AS A SHORTCUT] [NOTE: ENTRANCE IS NOW DNA LOCKED AND NO OTHER party MAY ENTER] I cheered, banging on the cockpit like I was listening to Luna's music. I wanted to jump out of my mech and jump. Or run. I didn't care.

"Luna!" I yelled.

"Luna!" I couldn't formulate words.

"I see it! I see it!" she yelled. We both cheered as we slowly descended to a stop. There was movement outside as two figures swam towards us. They were small but agile in the water. I slipped on the helmet and double checked that the air supply was full. The cockpit opened slightly, filling the inside with water. Once it filled, it opened and I was floating as if in space. There was no hard pressure on me from being deep underwater. It was like a gentle hug was surrounding me.

Luna pushed off, treating the water like we were in zero G. It was just about close enough.

"Welcome," said Caddie. It was only then that I noticed the aquatic figure before us. Stripes of purple on it's aquamarine skin followed from its head to its flippers. He was about half my size. It had a strange horizontal symmetry to its face, its four black eyes on both sides. It was humanoid-like in some ways but strange and alien in every other way possible. It waded through the water with a gracefulness aided by its anatomy.

"Uh, hello," I said.

"I hope we're not interrupting something." It placed a finger on my suit and vibrations from its finger reverberated muffled words into my suit. The voice that sounded was humorless and garbled, but everywhere within the confines of my body. Like I was hearing with every cell as opposed to my ears.

"Welcome to the lands of Mur," it said.

"My name cannot be registered in your perceivable range, but I welcome you all the same." I turned to Luna who was also experiencing this strange phenomena, her eyes wider than Perla from the clinic being told I wanted to be a pilot as well.

"Stefano," said Caddie.

"Are you communicating? You have a strange human look on your face that indicates an exchange of information is happening."

"Yes, Caddie," I said.

"Something like that."

"Very good! I am adding their profile to your database. It is filling up nicely!" The creature pressed it's finger on my suit again and gave a courteous nod.

"We sensed your arrival as you descended into the Lake. Auspicious your arrival. Can you traverse through our waters?"

"Can I swim? I haven't tried it before. Not a lot of swimming on a space ship. I have space walked before."

"Our waters allow for similar travel for denser beings," it said.

"That's cool," I said.

"But what now?" It made a shape with its face that resembled a smile. It was off putting.

"I present you to the King. The King would love to hear what has happened to the shipment of sulfur we had requested."

"Oh," was all I could say. Another piece in the puzzle. But why attack Jeromy. I knew there was a connection, but not a direct connection. Luna floated over, grabbing hold of my shoulder to stop.

"I am so weirded out," she mumbled.

"I could hear them with my arm."

"It was… different."

"Actually," said Caddie.

"It is a semi-efficient means of communication. They are communicating with each other at a higher frequency that just barely registers on my scanner. They are effectively mimicking speech, manually. With a proper adjustment, I can translate." I shrugged at Luna and gave a thumbs up to Caddie.

"Is that permission. I am not accustomed to human idiosyncrasies."

"Yes," I said with a grin.

"That is permission."